Let the youngest children i preeschool experience democracy! : A scientific essay on working with democracy and values in early childhood education and care (English)

Abstract [en]

The objective of this thesis is to investigate how to work with values and democracy in practice, when working with early childhood education and care. The thesis is presented as an essay, where the framed questions are considered using several different perspectives. The types of questions raised address issues such as the educators' attitudes and approaches, the individual's position within the group and how democracy and care are intrinsically integrated with each other.

The issues are considered and discussed in part through formative texts from the author’s own experience, and in part through a theoretical in-depth study of the principles of democracy in the context of raising children, education and teaching, and additionally, through participatory observations of children in four different groups, five times, with ages ranging from 1-3 year olds. The thematic analysis considers the children's opportunities to meet democratic values ​​in many of the situations that in preschool would be categorised as care. The educators’ role in acknowledging and confirming the children within the group in conjunction with creating an awareness of each other's choices, differences and competencies is also considered. The concluding thoughts are that democratic values, such as inclusion, consideration and respect, can be strengthened and acknowledged for the children through the educators' knowledge and awareness. By including work with values as learning objects, educators can create more opportunities in early childhood education and care to meet and develop democratic values.